BDH

Roger (and Carlos), thanks for the opportunity to serve the GA Section. I'd be happy to work with you again assuming my schedule allows. As for selling the GLOCK certificate for gas money... first, let me say what a pleasant surprise it was winning something!!! Way cool, and totally unexpected! Second, at the speed I maintained all the way home yesterday, and with that big V8 slurping down the gas, I'm not sure it would make much of a dent in it!! In all seriousness, great match, great people, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat! ps. A big thank you to GLOCK and all the other sponsors for supporting the GA State Championship, and USPSA in general!

I returned my original Pro-Ears ProMag to Ridgeline for 'a little tune-up' . What came back in only a couple of days was a 'new version of my ears!' No, there were not a new, over the counter version, but overall, they were new.... I love it when a vendor supports their products....

Happy belated BD Flex!

Julie, great to see you as always! Good luck to you and the entire US Team at the WS!

I'm working ALL the stages.... I'm the RM.

CB, he 'was' planning that but I asked his daughter Libby to keep an eye on him for me! Hey Troy, if you don't watch out, one of these days you might get to be my age!

Look forward to seeing everyone 'down South'! Sorry, just gotta find some place cooler than the Midwest....

It seems to me that since a glass bottle is 'thicker' the glass should keep the beer cold longer than some relatively thin piece of aluminum. Maybe one of our resident geniuses that knows something about thermodynamics (at least I think that is the discipline that would cover this) could chime in and set me straight. I figured that these were just some temporary marketing thing, but if there is a real advantage, maybe these will be with us for awhile...

A couple of days ago, someone was telling me that Budweiser now had 'aluminum beer bottles' which I thought was some kind of urban legend. Sure enough, today I stopped by the beverage store, and there they were... No, I won't tell you whether I bought some of them but I thought 'beer bottles' were supposed to be glass. What's up with that?

Just saw a report that we are onsite, submersibles down, and apparently, the Russian sub was not caught in an antenna array, but a fishing net. Supposedly, we are snipping away the fishing net from the sub prop, and at least according to CNN HLN, the sub 'could' start up within the next couple of hours. Hopefully, all survive, and while I certainly admire the brave sailors (above and below the sea), I really admire the Russian govt immediately calling for assistance as opposed to their handling of the Kirsk (or was it Kursk) disaster. In any case, way cool that we have former enemies working together for a solution for all. Hopefully, we will see something like that with the Middle East in a few years.....

Greywolf, while not an official RM comment, I agree with your comments... Fault lines keep a competitor behind something like a wall, table, barrel, or inside an area. Charge lines keep a competitor from moving too far forward and engaging something too close (like steel).

You are 110% correct! Actually when I was growing up in the Cleveland burbs we spent a ton of time on Lake Erie, and I always wondered why there was a restricted area on the Lake Erie navigational charts that was defined as an 'impact zone'. I guess now I know!

Got up this morning and I could not believe what I saw. It was raining!! Seems like this Summer has been nothing other than record heat, and no rain. I hope it rains all day...

I've owned some Dewey rods for years. Definately nice equipment. There is only one defect that I have found with them... even if I get out the gun, the patches, the solvent, etc... they still will not clean my guns without my assistance. And this is after years of me working with them and trying to teach them...

Jay, as always I appreciate your insight and wisdom, and in fact, the main reason I posted this was to see if I would get any push-back from the experts up here. I looked at it this way... 'if' we could determine an accurate score, and 'if' the competitor agreed with the logic in getting to that score, why would we not score it? The stats runner had not come by, so we did have the previous shooter's scoresheet... when I was on the clipboard, I was consistent throughout the match with where I recorded which target on the scoresheet, so I knew we were comparing target Tx against target Tx... and I asked the competitor if he agreed with our logic, which he did. What I am trying to say is we were 100% certain that we did determine an 'accurate score' and the competitor agreed with the logic we used to get to it. We certainly were not trying to keep him from a reshoot, and in fact, most of us know that reshoots generally do not go well. Where I thought we could be questioned, was in the following two areas... First, since the competitor in question was not looking over my shoulder as I was writing down the the previous competitors scores, he was taking me on my word that the target on the previous scoresheet, was the target in question from his run. Second, since the competitor in question was on deck during the previous run (probably concentrating on his run and not what the current shooter was doing), he was taking me on my word that the previous competitor fired two rounds at that target. Certainly if he had questioned either of these points, then I would have given the reshoot since we could not have determined an accurate score. So based on the fact that both the range staff and competitor all agreed that we had an accurate score, are you saying that we should have forced a reshoot on the competitor in this case? Please don't take this wrong, as you certainly raised valid points, but forcing a reshoot here just doesn't seem right to me... Is this situation (ie. you can never use a previous scoresheet) one of those zillion little unwritten rules or guidelines that take decades of match experience to pick up on? If so, I'd better take note, because right now, I'm not sure that I would have done anything different here...

Hmmm, well, maybe the heat fried part of my brain and it was during the first match. Must have been since I only remember this once during the week. Glad it worked out and you were satisfied with the result...

Shred, you do remember correctly. The rule simply specifies that we must be able to determine an accurate score. I ended up with one of these during the Open/L10 where we went to score a target that had four holes in it. Both myself and the shooter knew that he only fired two rounds at it, so it was obviously 'unrestored' from the previous competitor. Unfortunately, they were not all alphas (I think there were two alphas and two charlies on the target), and they were all the same caliber. Hmmm, could be the current competitor shot 2A, OR 1A 1C, OR 2C. What to do? Well, I pulled the previous competitors scoresheet, explained to the current competitor how we had been scoring so I could be certain which target on the scoresheet matched the target in question on the stage. The scoresheet was clear that the previous competitor had shot 1A 1C on this target (and he had only fired twice at it), which left 1A 1C for the current competitor. Since we had determined an accurate score, the competitor agreed, and we moved on...

First, great overall post. Second, I'm glad that you laid out a lot of the criteria for a suitable venue. Hopefully, several clubs will voice interest in putting a Nationals on the ground. Personally, I think that Barry is tough to beat (but the heat was unbelievable this year ), and I'd be all for seeing Nationals move around. Maybe instead of a five year contract next time, just make it a two year contract? From the poll is sounds like there is support for the NW (Bend), SW (Vegas), Central US (Barry), NE (Huntingdon), and SE (Frostproof). With two years at each venue, that covers us for the next decade!

I HATE loading 9 mm (but will shut up now).....

Well, this stuff came out of a full case that I bought probably 4 or 5 years ago (don't shoot much 9 mm). It would certainly be from a different lot, and maybe they changed the mix over the years.... Thanks for the tip. I'll pick some up before I head South in a couple of weeks...

Recently, I was one of the guinea pigs for an evaluation of 'wireless email' for the business (ie. Blackberry, Treo, etc). While I was originally blown away by the power of having email access nearly 100% of the time (while riding in rental car buses... sitting on airplanes on taxiways... riding in a car with someone on the way to a meeting...). Now I find myself in the position where everyone seems to think that since I have email access 24 hours per day, I need to respond to them instantly. I don't think I signed up to work 24 hours/day, 7 days/wk, and now I feel like I am wearing an 'ankle bracelet' so I followed Martha's tips to remove it, and it is sitting on the kitchen counter... charging... but turned OFF!

Personally, I don't think that any range can hold up against the whole PASA package. Centrally located... lots of bays... great concessions... and let's face it, Quincy WANTS us there! That said, I am not crazy about the unbelievable heat, or the ticks, and look forward to Nationals moving around. I've been to most of the ranges listed, and would have no problem with Frostproof, East Huntingdon, Reno, or certainly Bend. Also, the USSA facility sounds awesome and needs to be considered once it comes online. Personally, I am looking forward to the Vegas range for the 3 Gun this Fall since I have not been there before. But am a little concerned about how much longer it will be around based on the comments about housing closing in. Let's face it, Vegas is one of those places that no matter where you are located, you can get there relatively inexpensively (assuming you are flying). The bottom line is that I agree with Jake, and I will be there no matter where it is located...

Well, despite some 'distractions' ... and basically feeling like I was standing in a frying pan for a week ... I had a great time! Mrs. BDH (aka Stats Runner with the Killer Wabbits) really struggled with the heat, and I thought that maybe this would be her last 'vacation' with me. However, I was pleasantly surprised on the way home when I asked her if I would ever be able to get her back to Nationals, and she responded... "Are you kidding? Yes, it was hot and difficult, but never have I been around such a great group of people. I will be back as long as they will have me!" Gotta love that response, and I certainly love the 'respondant!' Sorry for the drift....

FYI, I took my new G17 to Barry with some ammo for Chronoman to play with. UMC 9mm 115 gr was just shy of 127 PF. Also, you may want to tag Greg as I think there was one other factory load that generally shot slightly lower PF but I can't think of it off the top of my head...